Day 11 Into Gdansk

Gdansk is stunning. We enter through the Green Gate crossing the Motlawa River and a beautiful view of the Gdansk Crane - the largest of it's kind in medieval Europe and capable of hoisting loads of up to 2000kg.

We saunter along Dlugi Targ and marvel at the buildings around us and at the gaiety of the streetlife - vendors, shops, restaurants - all very civilised and the most impressive city we have been in since Tallinn. We enjoy a lovely lunch and then Isla does some afternoon busking.


Early evening we set off out of the city towards Koscierzyna and the Suzuki workshop we will be at for 5 days.

No campsites - so we stop at a hotel in an idyllic location overlooking a lake in a small town 15km outside Gdansk. We eat then go to bed early. Unfortunately, the hotel manager failed to tell us that there would be a disco on tonight. The music starts at 11pm - right above our room. By 1pm there are drunken youths outside our door. I (Andy) open the door and indicate that they should move off - they shove the door back in my face. By 4am I've had enough and go upstairs to register a complaint. The sun is rising and the manager tells me the party it about to finish. I go back to bed and get 3 hours sleep.

Cycled 48.68 km
Busking earnings - 77.49 zlotys (60min)
no punctures

700km

Well, here I am - 700km on. This doesn't seem so bad now but there's still another 700km or so to go!

Day 10 - The Polish Seaside

Today our goal is to get to somewhere close to Gdansk. We leave our lovely orchard campsite and head off along the coast. We encounter our first serious hills through beautiful beech forest. Eventually the hills finish and we are back down on the low lying coast - very like the Netherlands. We have large rivers to cross and our map has little boat symbols on it. On the Nogat, for example we are carried across by this little ferry operated by a pulley.

We're heading for the Polish seaside and the roads get busier. Eventually we arrive at the seaside village of Jantar and find an extremely busy site. There are discos, ice cream vendors, fast food joints, amusement arcades - the works. We are invited to pay and find a place to pitch our tent. The campsite is heaving with people - where to go? Then we notice that the campsite fence runs up the hill into the pinewoods a bit - we climb a hill and find a perfect pitch overlooking the whole site - car borne campers just won't be bothered lugging all their paraphernalia up here so we camp here.

We're on schedule and tomorrow we will head into Gdansk

Cycled 63.46 km
Busking earnings - 0
no punctures

Day 9 Kaliningrad and into Poland

Breakfast is a chaotic affair. Tables lie uncleared, there are insufficient plates and no fruit juice. There are no waiters either. Andy opens a cupboard to try and find a bowl and a woman comes over and slams it shut on his fingers. Who is she?

Andy has had a hard time with Russian women. On the Moscow Metro, he rested his bag on the handrail of the escalator. A loud voice boomed over the public address system to remove it. 200 Russians turn to look at the culprit. He crossed his legs while resting in a Russian Orthodox church. A woman comes over and gives him a lecture - apparently it is bad luck to do this but she is no church official - merely a visiting worshipper. He gets another row on a train after apparently bumping into a woman with luggage on the tricky train journey from Riga - more rows follow.


We sit outside for breakfast, having scavenged what we can. Our fellow diners are now young men dressed in vests, shorts and beach sandals. They are mostly overweight, and have a menacing air. One comes out side to stand by our table for a smoke - do we say anything? We decide not to.
The previous evening we had discussed what to do about cycling in Kaliningrad and decided not to continue any further. Instead, we asked the hotel to organise a taxi to take us and our bikes the remaining 50km to the Polish border, with a short tour of Kaliningrad city.

Our taxi arrives but is not nearly big enough for us and 3 bikes and luggage. It turns out the hotel has said that our bikes would fold - bizarre. Andy spots a woman with a van and we negotiate with him to take us instead. He is a great help - Vladimir is his name. He packs our gear and takes us on a very enjoyable tour of Kaliningrad City.


The guidebook gives the impression that this is a rather grim place, caught in a Soviet time warp. This is nonsense. The city is impressive, modern, much cleaner than Moscow and with elegant streets and squares. The old German quarter is lovely. Most of the city was destroyed in a four day series of British air raids in August 1944. (sorry - no time for photos).


Kaliningrad was part of Germany until 1945. Kaliningrad was formerly Koningsberg, capital of East Prussia and one of Europe's most beautiful cities. The air raids and subsequent Soviet brutalist architecture destroyed all of that. After WWII, the territory was awarded to the Soviet Union which in turn made it part of the Russian republic. Thus, Kaliningrad today remains part of the Russian Federation surrounded and isolated by the newly independent former Soviet republics to the north and east and Poland to the south.

In 1946, the city was named Kaliningrad but funnily enough, there's been little enthusiasm to rename the city (in contrast to Leningrad - St Petersburg). So who was Kalinin?


Mikhael Kalinin was a colleague of Lenin and had just died as a new name was needed. He was a rather unsavoury character. Among other things, he authorised the massacre of thousands of Polish officers in Katyn Forest - the Katyn massacre (and subject of an excellent Polish film in 2007) - which for a long time the Soviets blamed on the Nazis.


After our quick tour of Kaliningrad, we head for the Polish border and Vladimir drops us 2km from the border at a petrol station - we tip him well - he's been a great help - as have all Russians here that we have met.


The border has caused us some trepidation. Apparently, this border crossing is not open to bikes, only to vehicles. Even although a bike is a vehicle, apparently there is no lane for bikes, only for cars, buses and lorries (so there's plenty room for us!). Since 2006, though, most cyclists have had no problem. We experience none either and are soon back in the EU - in Poland!





We are heading for Gdansk and stop for the night at a lovely farm campsite in the seaside village of Tolmicko.

Cycled 39.61 km
Busking earnings - 0
no punctures

600km

On the Russian part of the Curonian Spit, I reach 600km. As you can see, the road is nice and we enjoyed cycling along it. The problems came later ( as you might have read in the previous post).

Round my neck is a necklace with wee sweeties on it. I nibble these occasionally.

Day 8 Into Russia (again)

Another interesting day to look forward to - Wednesday 23 July.

Today we set off from the campsite at Nida and cycle 4 km to the Lithuanian - Russian border on the Curonian Spit. It's exciting to be going into Russia once more but this time on bikes. The border consists of (from memory) 4 checkpoints. We see the real border with it's guard posts and searchlights - all quite reminiscent of the cold war. We meet polite and helpful officials on both sides and there is no paperwork this time (unlike entering from Finland). No photos are allowed but we ask to take this one looking into Russia - no problem as long as we don't turn round!



Sorry - it's badly exposed - it says Welcome to Russia anyway!

We spin into Russia for the second time (but the first time on bicycles). No-one questions Isla cycling (apparently it is illegal for those under 14 years old to cycle on main roads, which is why we could not start from Moscow). We head off in high spirits, enjoying the novelty of being in part a relatively unknown part of Europe - Kaliningrad.

The road down the spit is good. There is much less traffic than on the Lithuanian side, and only occasional signs of cars parked and tracks through the woods to the beaches. It is is delightful to cycle along at a brisk pace with little else to disturb us.

We stop for lunch and, before long, this inquisitive little fox cub approaches us, seeking food. We give him/her none.

As we approach the end of the spit and the town of Zelenogradsk, the traffic begins to get heavier. We experience some irresponsible overtaking and Andy picks up a stick from the woods, straps it to his rear panniers and ties a fluorescent pair of laces to the end and adds a bottletop for good measure. We concentrate on defensive cycling but before long a big red BMW passes too close and hits the stick (which of course simply gives), but not before the bottletop has done some damage. This encounter generates a surprisingly loud bang. We become even more defensive (Andy cycles in the middle of the lane).

The road from Zelenogradsk to Kaliningrad is busy too and gets busier. The traffic is a mixture of old family Ladas and massive BMWs and Mercedes. As with most of Russia, the roads were constructed during the Soviet period when there was very little traffic. Now, these same roads are having to cope with a huge increase in volume.

Defensive cycling is working well but before long we have long queues building up behind us. We begin to stop every 500m to let the traffic pass and them wait another 5 minutes for a pause to allow us onto the road again. We make slow progress and although we suffer less abuse than in Latvia but nevertheless, the stress is too much and 79 km into Russia, we decide to stop at a hotel for the night, 10km short of our intended destination, Kaliningrad city.

The hotel is rather grand, having obviously been recently renovated. It appears to be an old German manor house. There are stables and extensive gardens. We get a room for 3000 roubles (60GBP), We take a shower and wash some clothes. Soon there is a sulphurous smell - "are you eating eggs?" asks Isla from the shower. The washed clothes come out orange - the water is full of minerals - mainly iron and sulphur. Annoying - good quality cycling gear now has bright orange stains around the seams.

We head to the garden for supper. The menu is impressive - there is even a vegetarian section. We select a salad to start and then potato cutlets with mushrooms. The salad is good. Then we wait, we chat, we observe our fellow diners - all expensively dressed Russians. The car park is full of BMWs and Lexus cars. There is a model of Mercedes that none of us have ever seen - a huge affair with a rear door that opens automatically. They all have dark windows. The wine list advertises bottles of wine at 15,000 roubles (300GBP). Who are we dining with?

More importantly, where is our main course? We realise an hour has passed. It is way beyond our bedtime! Eventually our main course arrives - 2 small triangles of potato fritters and a piece of lettuce. We laugh and assume something else is coming. It doesn't - this is it. We scoff it in 5 minutes. This isn't cycling food! We pinch a basket of bread from a neighbouring table (after the diners have departed of course!). We scoff it all. Then a man from the neighbouring table introduces himself - you must be British he says - he is English and works for the company that makes the machines that make sure that all MacDonald burgers are the same. We chat about the new Russia.

There then follows a long wait for the bill before we give up and head to bed - still hungry.

Cycled 79.33 km
Busking earnings - 0
no punctures

500km

On the Curonian Spit on the Lithianian Seaside Cycle Route, I reach 500km - yipee!!

Day 7 The Lithuanian Seaside Route

We look forward to today as we plan to follow the Lithianian Seaside Cycle route down the coast and onto the the Curonian Spit - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - and a long cycle along dedicated cycle tracks through the pine forests and dunes of the 98 km long and 0.4-4 km wide sandy spit which starts (that is to say, joins the mainland) at the south in Russian Kaliningrad and ends up to the north opposite the Lithuanian town of Klaipeda.

We will, of course be cycling it in the opposite direction (north to south) - get out a map if the above doesn't make sense - you'll see what we mean! The route was developed with EU funding by Lithianian cyclists. We applaud their efforts and once again pause to reflect on the positive role played by the EU in contrast to so much of the nonsense fed to us by UK politicians and the media.

We are not disappointed. After exploring the seaside town of Palanga, we leave in high spirits. By now we are fitter and the kilometres pass by with greater ease. There is much to see along the way and by lunchtime we are in Klapieda and catch the 10 minute ferry across to the Spit.

We have 52km ahead of us to reach the only official campsite at Nida, near the Lithuanian/Russian border. We seem to tire a bit - it is probably the heat. Andy gets our first puncture and for the first time arrive at our destination seriously late - around 10pm. We have clocked up our longest day so far - over 93km. The campsite is crowded but we pitch beside a Dutch couple who are cycling north and swop tales over a quick supper.

Cycled 93.52 km
Busking earnings - 0
1 puncture

Day 6 - another country beginning with "L"

Sorry about the title - it's a little disrespectful to Lietuvos Raspublika or Lithuania but all these countires are beginning to get a big confusing. We have now had Euros, roubles. Estonian Krone, Lats and, now, Litas.

Anyway, today, Monday 21 July, we cycle down the Latvian Baltic coast into Lithuania. The weather is glorious - sunshine and occasional clouds, and a light, warm wind on our backs. The road surface is good, vehicles are few and we achieve our highest average daily speed so far of 16.4km/hr.

The only problem is the behaviour of Latvian drivers. We are defensive cyclists, meaning we cycle in a fashion so as to minimise objective dangers and make our presence clear and unambiguous to other road users. On roads with more than minimal traffic, Isla cycles first, about 5ocm out from the edge. I follow behind about 1 - 1.5m out and Cathy follows behind the same distance out as Isla with her dynamo lights on. We cycle about 2m apart. We are a tight group and Andy's role is to keep an eye in his mirror to m onitor oncoming traffic and report anything unusual.

The biggest problem is traffic coming from behind meeting traffic coming the other way. Will they attempt to overtake or will they wait? until the road is clear. Ifthey show any signs of doing anything silly, Andy moves oot to make it clear that they should not attempt to pass until it is safe to do so. This strategy has worked well and we have always felt safe as a result.

Today, however, in Latvia, despite the clear road, a few drivers, are so annoyed by being held up that the draw up next to use shouting and gesticulating. The first is a man in a huge Mecedes. I give him a rude sign. He slows down as if to argue then pulls away in a cloud of exhaust smoke. This happens a few more times. We adopt a dual tactic of Andy giving ruide signs and Cathy and Isla waving and smiling! We remain safe but take a dim view of Latvian driving.

We stop for lunch in a lovely little village where there is a rather moving monument to the 400 poor souls deported from the region by the occupying Soviets in 1940.

In early afternoon, we cross the border into Lithuania. All the Baltic States have signed the Schengen Agreement which means no border controls to deal with.

We arrive in Palanga, Lithuiania at 1900 hours and after failing to find a campsite check into a nice small, modern hotel for the night.

Cycled 76.41 km
Busking earnings - 0
No punctures

400km

On this fine day, on 21 July, I reached the 400km mark. Another bar of chocolate to the first person to spot an important difference between now and 300km.

In Riga

After a long sleep, we head into town. Riga has the feeling of a very post-Soviet city. Outside of the Old Town, there is a mix of faded grandeur and Soviet concrete. We hunt for a bike shop in the pouring rain and stock up on a few things before heading into the Old Town. The streets are busy but we find a spot to busk in the shade of a lime tree. There is quite a bit of interest compared to previous sessions. Two women stop for quite a while, taking notes (we advertise buskingforstreetchildren). One small girl takes a great interest - see photo.

We finish the day by visiting the Museum of the Occupation which tells the story of the successive occupations of Latvia first by the USSR, then by Nazi Germany, and finally, once again by the USSR. As the Museum's website explains,

"The Museum's goal is to portray life during the three occupation periods suffered by Latvia and Latvians. The items of the exhibition tell about Latvia during the fifty+ year-long subjugation: about power politics, about Soviet and Nazi terror, about the destruction of Latvia's economy, about Soviet and Nazi totalitarian ideologies, about the opposition to the regimes, and finally how Latvians regained their freedom in 1991.The first section of the exhibit documents the events that led to Latvia's occupation: Soviet and Nazi pact, finalized on 23 August 1939, by Molotov and Ribbentrop, which divided East Europe into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence."

It does this well but as with most history, it is worth asking who wrote it. It turns out that the Museum was set up by the Latvian diaspora. Although it is now funded by the Government, it still relies on voluntary donations to fund 3/4 of the operating costs. As is well known, the diaspora of any nation is often not in the best position to reflect on events of the past and this is reflected in the very linear history - independence, occupation, occupation, occupation, freedom. Absent are any alternative voices which could provide some more nuance on the events of ths past.

Nevertheless, it is a moving, valid, honest and vivid account of the horrors that the 20th century threw up for Latvia and the other Baltic States. It is useful to be reminded that at Yalta, Churchill was deaf to the appeals by the Baltic States to regain their freedom, deferring to Stalin's demands that the internal affairs of the Soviet Union were not to be part of the discussions.

We also reflected on the life facing Russians in Latvia - they are now part of the EU but have struggled to have their identity properly reflected in the post independence states - something Putin has played on to whip up ant-western feeling in Russia.

In the evening we set off to catch a train to the coast - this will save us 2 days cycling. This turns out to be a farce. The carriage we are meant to put our bikes in already has 2 bikes and only one free space despite us having bookes tickets and made reservations. Moreover, the bike store is at the end of a carrtiage full off passenger seats. We have to take off all our luggage (10 min until the train departs) and wheel the bikes through a seething mass of holidaymakers and children. We are not popular. The carriage is unbearably hot. Nevertheless, we enjoy the ride and arrive in Liepaja on the Latvian coast and check into the clean and pleasant Amrita Hotel.

Cycled 1.51 km

Busking earnings:- 29.78 lats, 5 roubles, 1.50 euros

No punctures